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Soil moisture reserves are a key factor in maintaining soil fertility and all other related ecosystem services (including carbon sequestration, soil biodiversity, and soil erosion control). In semiarid blown-sand areas under aridification, water preservation is a particularly crucial task for agriculture. The international Diverfarming project (2017–2022), within the EU Horizon 2020 Program, focused on the impacts of crop diversification and low-input practices in all pedoclimatic regions of Europe. In this three-year experiment conducted in the Pannonian region, the impact of intercropping asparagus with different herbs on some provisioning and regulating ecosystem services was evaluated in the Kiskunság sand regions. Relying on findings based on a range of measured physical and chemical soil parameters and on crop yields and qualitative properties, advice was formulated for farmers. The message drawn from the experiment is somewhat ambiguous. The local farmers agree that crop diversification improves soil quality, but deny that it would directly influence farm competitiveness, which primarily depends on cultivation costs (such as fertilization, plant protection, and labour). Further analyses are needed to prove the long-term benefits of diversification through enriching soil microbial life and through the possible reduction of fertilizer use, while water demand is kept at a low level and the same crop-quality is ensured.

Climate change is commonly associated with extreme weather phenomena. Extreme weather patterns may bring prolonged drought periods, more intense runoff and increased severity of floods. Rainfall distribution is extremely erratic both in space and time, particularly in areas of rugged topography and heterogeneous land use. Therefore, locating major rainfall events and predicting their hydrological consequences is challenging. Hence, our study aimed at exploring the spatial and temporal patterns of daily rainfall totals of R ≥ 20 mm, R ≥ 30 mm and R ≥ 40 mm (extreme precipitation events, EPE) in Pécs (SW Hungary) by a hydrometeorological network (PHN) of 10 weather stations and the gridded database of the Hungarian Meteorological Service (OMSZ). Our results revealed that (a) OMSZ datasets indicated increasing frequencies of EPEs for the period of 1971–2020 in Pécs, (b) the OMSZ dataset generally underestimated EPE frequencies, particularly for R ≥ 40 mm EPEs, for the period of 2013 to 2020, and (c) PHN indicated a slight orographic effect, demonstrating spatial differences of EPEs between the two datasets both annually and seasonally for 2013–2020. Our results pointed out the adequacy of interpolated datasets for mesoscale detection of EPE distribution. However, topographically representative monitoring networks provide more detailed microscale data for the hydrological management of urban areas. Data from dense rain-gauge networks may complement interpolated datasets, facilitating complex environmental management actions and precautionary measures, particularly during weather-related calamities.

This paper presents a modification of the theory of weighted mean temperatures for rivers. Rodhe, B. (1952) assumed the dominance of sensible heat transfer on ice formation. We aimed to improve the method for the evaluation of ice and water temperature based on a relatively low number of inputs. We further developed the model by introducing the effect of pre-existing ice, hence increasing the accuracy of the model on the timing of ice disappearance. Prediction accuracy of ±1 day was reached for the timing of the appearance of ice. Additional outputs have also been added to the model, including the termination of ice and the prediction of water temperature. The temperature calculation had a coefficient of determination of 95 percent, and a root mean square error of 1.33 °C during the calibration period without the use of observed water temperatures. The validation was carried out in a forecasting situation, and the results were compared to the energy balance.

Complex river rehabilitation/restoration projects devote equal attention to the improvement of hydromorphological conditions and the neighbouring floodplain environment. Since land use exerts a heavy control on the hydrological cycle of floodplains, land use optimization is a central task in floodplain rehabilitation. In floodplains where large surfaces are temporarily inundated, the optimal allocation of land use classes involves the preservation of wetlands, maintenance of grasslands (meadows and pastures) and forests, and the restriction of arable land to higher ground with the lowest inundation hazard. The detailed mapping of land use against the distribution of soil types and fluvial landforms provides a solid basis for land use optimization. Rehabilitation design is presented in the paper on the example of the Kapos Valley, where inundations in the wet year of 2010 caused great damage to agricultural crops and efforts are directed to better water management (excess water reduction and floodwater retention) on the floodplain. Land use conversions, which are less expensive and easier to implement, are preferred to structural (engineering) solutions.

Increasingly severe weather extremes are predicted as one of the consequences of climate change. According to climatic models, weather extremities induce higher risks for both flood and drought in the Carpathian Basin. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, flood control relied on cost-intensive engineering structures, but recently ecological solutions have come to the fore. Flood hazard on major rivers could be mitigated if multiple and cumulative water retention opportunities are exploited on the upper sections of tributary catchments. Appropriate land use and landscape pattern changes can shift the infiltration to run-off ratio to the benefit of the former. In the Transdanubian Hills of Southwest Hungary three study areas with different agricultural land use types had been selected and investigated for the impact of landscape micro-features on soil moisture retention capacity with the purpose of conserving water from wet periods for the times of drought. Marked differences in moisture dynamics have been detected between arable land, grasslands and orchards. This fact underlines the need for integrated soil and water conservation. Drought risk was found to be the highest on ploughland. Favourable soil water budgets have been observed in the fields as a function of land use: less intensive types, like grazing land and orchards (particularly tree rows), were identified as places of high water retention capacity. Although serious water stress conditions were also reached in the orchard, it markedly mitigated drought conditions compared to the ploughland.

Terroir refers to the geographical origin of wines. The landscape factors (topography, parent rock, soil, microbial life, climate, natural vegetation) are coupled with cultural factors (cultivation history and technology, cultivars and rootstock) and all together define a terroir. The physical factors can be well visualized by a slope profile developed into a pedosequence showing the regular configuration of the relevant physical factors for a wine district. In the present study the generalized topographic pedosequence (or catena) and GIS spatial model of the Villány Hills, a historical wine producing region, serves for the spatial representation and characterization of terroir types. A survey of properties of Cabernet Franc grape juice allowed the comparison of 10 vineyards in the Villány Wine District, Southwest Hungary. Five grape juice properties (FAN, NH3, YAN, density and glucose + fructose content) have been found to have a moderate linear relationship (0.5 < r2 < 0.7) with the Huglin Index (HI) and aspect. Aspect, when determined on the basis of angular distance from South (180°), showed a strong correlation (r2 > 0.7) with FAN, NH3, YAN, sugar and density and moderate correlation with primary amino nitrogen (PAN). HI showed a correlation with three nitrogen related parameters FAN, NH3, YAN, density and glucose + fructose content. Elevation and slope, however, did not correlate with any of the chemical properties.

Over the past decade or two, vulnerability mapping become a useful tool to determine the sensitivity of karst aquifers and allows the analysis of karstic aquifers affected by human activities. The Tettye Catchment, one of the eight catchments of the Mecsek Karst aquifer (SW Hungary), supplies drinking water for Pécs, the fifth most populous city in Hungary. However, due to its partly urbanized character and heterogeneous karstic features, this catchment is highly sensitive to anthropogenic impacts. In this study we aimed to generate resource vulnerability maps and risk maps to assess the role of physical and anthropogenic factors on groundwater vulnerability in the Mecsek Karst. Two formerly validated methods were used, the COP (Concentration, Overlaying layers and Precipitation) and SA (Slovene Approach) methods. The resource vulnerability maps, validated by former tracer tests, were combined with the hazard map obtained from the COST action 620 and EU Water Directive to generate risk maps. Tracer-based transit times were commonly less than 20 days in the majority of the areas of extreme vulnerability. During the current study, a new protocol has been elaborated for the delineation of the protection zones of karstic aquifers. Comparing the two methods, the SA performed better in terms of intrinsic vulnerability mapping, as it had a higher spatial resolution and was more detailed than the COP map and had a more sophisticated vulnerability indexing. In addition, high spatial correlation was revealed between the transit time maps and the SA map. Reassessed risk zonation, with appropriate legal consequences, likely minimizes undesired human activities within the zone of protection, hence maintaining water quality that complies with the protection acts

Sonar survey of shallow water bodies has challenged scientists for a long time. Although these water courses are small, still they have an increasing ecological, touristic and economical role. As maritime sonars are non-ideal tools for shallow waters, the bathymetric survey of these rivers has been taken with cross-sectional methods. Due to recent developments, interferometric surveying technology have also burst into the market of recreational-grade fish-finders. The objective of the current study was the development of a novel, complex and integrated surveying technique which is affordable, robust and applicable even at low water levels. A recreational-grade sonar system was assembled and mounted on a double-hull vessel and connected with a geodetic Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) device. We have developed a novel software which enables the bridging between a closed sonar file format and the commonly used Geographic Information System (GIS) datasets. As a result, the several month-long conventional bathymetric survey of the 146 km-long reach of the Drava River was reduced to 20 days and provided channel bathymetry of many orders of magnitude higher than the classical methods. Additionally, a large number of spatial derivatives were generated which enables the analysis of channel morphology, textural variation of channel sediments and the accurate delineation of navigational routes.

In recent decades both physical modelling and computer simulation of fluvial processes has undergone rapid progress. The paper summarizes the achievements of both international and Hungarian laboratory experiments in fluvial geomorphology. Then the new automatically governed flume facility, called PTETHYS (Project for Tectonical and Hydrological Simulations) recently set up at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Pécs, is presented and some of the new opportunities it offers for research in fluvial geomorphology are briefly demonstrated: the identification of geomorphological thresholds; modelling the generation of (flash) floods and its application for the reconstruction of the architectural elements and geomorphic evolution of floodplains. Some important channel parameters can be quantitatively investigated: channel cross-section change, amount of bedload influencing braiding, current velocity distribution etc. The novelty of the facility is the easy adjustment of channel slope and continuous experimenting (no need for interruption as in the case of laserscanned experiments). The scaling necessary for quantitative analyses is also tackled.

Today flash floods are one of the most significant extreme weather-related natural hazards. Due to the global climate change and altered land use, intense runoff and flash floods may exert catastrophic hydrologic impacts on developed areas. To measure and observe runoff - affecting environmental factors we have calculated characteristic flow values (CFV) with five empirical equations for five selected watersheds in the Mecsek Hills, SW Hungary. CFV’s were then compared with measured characteristic Qmax values of 5, 10, 20, 33 and 100-year return period. From the empirical equations the Rational method was the most accurate while the largest differences between the calculated and measured values was observed for the Csermák-method. Nonetheless, determination of the input parameters for the Rational and Virág methods is rather challenging, thus, for practical applications, the Korismethod was found to be the most applicable equation to determine CFVs. Additionally, the median Koris errors showed a strong exponential correlation with the 5% specific runoff . If specific runoff could be estimated for any given outflow point, then error-specific runoff functions could be used to increase the accuracy of the Koris calculation method. To further increase the accuracy of CFVs for selected outflow points and cross sections, area and watershed-specific variables need to be included in the equation to account for topography, land use and soil properties.

Floodway delineation, zoning and hydrodynamic modelling for a section of the Drava River was carried out with MIKE 21 software at a one-time input flood pulse of 3000 m3s-1 discharge. The objective of the current study was the delineation and mapping of floodway zones in the form of a set of georeferenced GIS data for the section between Őrtilos (river kilometer 236 km) and Drávaszabolcs (70.2 km). Zonation was based on water velocities. Four zones were delineated upstream Barcs, and three between Barcs and Drávaszabolcs, where, due to the confined floodplain downstream Barcs, no stagnant water area was identified. Specific velocities ranged between 0.089 and 3.476 m2s-1 and 0.075 and 2.01 m2s-1 upstream and downstream Barcs, respectively, markedly lower than stated in the Government Decree (0.2 to 6.0 m2s-1). The primary and secondary conveyance zones covered a combined area of about 40% of the entire floodplain, while the remaining 60% included both the transitional and stagnant water zones upstream Barcs and solely the transitional zone downstream Barcs. Our analyses help to mitigate the effects of flood peaks and provide information for decision makers and local stakeholders on flood management tasks.

As a special segment of the research of the interrelated system of tourism and regional development, the present study is aimed to deal with and focus on the methods of the regional delimitation of spaces and areas of tourism based on its supply and demand aspects, providing recent data on this rather neglected field. Following the general introduction of the study area (South Transdanubia, Hungary), the research background with a literature review of the international practice on the given topic is presented. The main portion of the paper is the introduction of a new method elaborated by our research group concerning the demarcation possibilities of core/periphery areas of tourism, among others using GIS methods. This method provides a fairly accurate approach for centre–periphery research concerning the study of tourism.

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